The Baseball Hall of Fame just welcomed six living players into its Hall of Fame. While the 2014 class had welcomed six living new members, three of them were elected because of their success as managers. The only time in baseball history six living players had been inducted previously was in 1955, when Joe DiMaggio led a class that also included Dazzy Vance, Ted Lyons, Ray Schalk (maybe not necessarily deserving), Gabby Hartnett, and Frank "Homerun" Baker. It is safe to say that the Hall of Fame is thriving, up to a certain point. Of course, the league has some work to do to iron out some of the issues not yet addressed when it comes to the best players of our past generation. This will be tabled for a separate discussion. A player who had an interrupted career makes for an interesting case when it comes to being judged for baseball highest honor. Sandy Koufax dominated the sport for the last six of his last 12 big league seasons. Kirby Puckett put up a solid 12 year run, one that was on track for the Hall of Fame before he was suddenly forced into retirement. A total of 29 Hall of Fame players served during World War II, some during the prime of their careers. Another 24 Hall of Famers served during World War I. The Baseball Writers have shown compassion for both instances, showing that there can be exceptions to the unwritten rules.The reserve clause allowed for the owners to control the earning power of the players for about 100 years. Players were treated as property of the team they belong to, with the teams having the power to sign each player to a one year contract with an option for the next season. After Peter Seitz ruled in favor of players Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally in December of 1975, a loophole was created allowing both players to become free agents. This led to free agency being collectively bargained into the basic agreement between the players and the owners. For the first time in baseball history, the leverage shifted to the players. And the owners, who had grown use to having control over players contracts, had to compete with each other for the services of their own players if they wanted to stay competitive. This led to longtime Athletics owner Charlie Finley to disassociate himself from a game he was involved in for the past 12 years (1968-1980). Animosity ran wild over the course of the early 1980's, culminating with a lengthy work stoppage in 1981. Owners had the tables flipped on them and decided to go to every length to close the ground. Statements made by Commissioner Peter Ueberroth were made public, proving that he could care less that he was incriminating himself (in baseball terms). The Commissioner was going to curtail the length of contracts any way he could and he made it clear that he wanted all owners to do the same. Led by Ueberroth, all owners agreed to only re-sign their own free agents for the exception of players the owners did not want to have back. After the 1985 season, only four players switched teams. The same happened after the 1986 season. While the obvious could be stated that players lost money and guaranteed years, a lot more was at stake to some.Andre Dawson was not retained by the Montreal Expos after the 1986 season. He went into spring training without a job. He came to camp with the Chicago Cubs presenting a blank check (perhaps figuratively) to General Manager Dallas Green. He managed to slip in a bonus to be paid to him if he were selected as the National League's Most Valuable Player. He came out on top. Few others were anywhere near as lucky. Bob Horner was not offered a contract by the Atlanta Braves, or anybody from Major League Baseball. He wound up having to play in Japan in 1987. It took its toll on him, as he was not the same player when the St. Louis Cardinals signed him before the 1988 season. Al Oliver was fresh off an impressive American League Championship Series with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1985. Wanting to continue his career as a designated hitter, Oliver was looking to add to his 2743 career hits. No offers came his way forcing Oliver to call it a career. After the 1987 season, Steve Garvey took a hard stance on what he felt was collusion, accusing the San Diego Padres of not exercising options he should have been given for the 1988 and 1989 seasons. The Padres neither exercised the options, nor offered him a contract for the 1988 season. Garvey retired. "Scoop" hit .303 for his career and was one of five players in baseball history to collect 200 hits in each league.A seven time All Star, Oliver won a batting championship and amassed over 500 doubles in his career. Had Oliver chosen to retire, experts could say he may have fell a little short of Hall of Fame standards. But, what if he wanted to continue to play but was not allowed to due to collusion? Oliver made this exact statement to me during an interview in 2013 for the Passed Ball Show. Garvey was the 1974 NL MVP and managed to put up a .338, .361, .550 triple stash line (Batting Average, On Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage) in 55 postseason games. He was the Iron Man of his era, playing in 1207 consecutive games from 1975-1983. Garvey had six 200 hit seasons in seven years from 1974-1980 and was a ten time All Star. Garvey went through a vigorous process of a lawsuit of $3 million in damages against Major League Baseball. He eventually won his case, though the decision was not final until 2001, when the Supreme Court ruled in Garvey's favor. If the voters are understanding of players' careers cut short due to injury and are equally as empathetic when it comes to those who gave up prime years of their careers to serve the country in a major World War, why has there been little mention of how collusion cost Oliver and Garvey a chance to be in the Hall of Fame. Both wanted to play and were clearly not given a contract because of the colluding owners. Would it be fair to assume that both could continue their careers, even if not at a Hall of Fame level? If Oliver played another two seasons as a DH and compiled a pedestrian 130 hits per season, he would have over 3000 for his career. If Garvey played another three seasons, which was certainly reasonable, it would not be too much to ask for him to record 140 hits each season. He too would have amassed over 3000 hits. Though standards have changed, 3000 hits would have been a Hall of Fame lock during the 1990's. Garvey was on the ballot for 15 years and never got more 42.6% of the vote. Oliver, inexplicably, was off the ballot after one year, having garnished only 4.3% of the vote. When cases are being made for players for all different reasons, few have considered those careers who were cut short by collusion. Collusion should be on the same level of those who lost latter years of their career due to injury or prime seasons due to military service.

There is always a lot of talk involved in discussing Billy Beane's decisions made during his time as the Oakland Athletics GM. His worldly known "Moneyball" philosophy has caught the eye of the underdog fan, kind of like the way the character in the movie "Rudy" made you want to see him play football for Notre Dame. Recent trades involving Jeff Samardijia, Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss seem to have initially made more fans of the philosophy than enemies. The Athletics as they look for 2015, are not dazzling on paper. But, like in other seasons, the thought is the team will find a way to remain competitive by pulling the wool over our eyes. At least, this is the sentiment of the fans, not particularly Athletics fans- but fans of moneyball and underdogs in general. The Moss trade is a simple salary dump, as they netted an infielder in Joe Wendle who can be useful down the road, but will not replace the value of Moss, or of any everyday player for that matter. The trade of Samardijia brought back a player that could be the team's every day SS in Marcus Semien and a catcher in Josh Phegley, who despite being a former first round pick and the fact that he has put up good minor league numbers- has not hit for a high average at the major league level in limited duty. Because of this, neither player is a given for the Athletics. Even in the Donaldson trade, the team failed to net a player who has been considered a top prospect, at least not yet. Kendall Graveman, a 2012 Blue Jays draft pick included in the deal, had a fast rise from A ball to the Major Leagues, but is not a strike out pitcher. Time will tell if these deals help the Athletics down the road, but already more people than not are assuming that these trades will benefit the team down the road, if not right away. As in the past, the short term prognosis is the fact that the Blue Jays, Indians and White Sox have all gotten better at the expense of the Athletics. As we know, this is not something new. Just three off seasons ago, the Athletics traded Gio Gonzalez to Washington, Andrew Bailey to Boston and Trevor Cahill to Arizona. Gonzalez has pitched very well for the Nats, but Bailey and Cahill were complete busts for their new teams. Perhaps for the Athletics in this instance, you can say- "two out of three ain't bad." The moneyball movie was based off the decisions to let free agents Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Jason Isringhausen walk as free agents. Eventually, two of the team's stud starting pitchers, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder, were dealt themselves- Hudson to the Braves for Juan Cruz, Dan Meyer and Charles Thomas- the three combined worth nothing close to the value of Hudson and Mulder to the Cardinals for Daric Barton, Kiko Calero and Dan Haren. One of the best trades made by Beane and one of the best trades perhaps in the recent history of baseball was made involving Haren and the Athletics. He was sent with RHP Connor Robertson (David's brother) to the Diamondbacks in exchange for Chris Carter (who has hit 30 HR for the Astros), Carlos Gonzalez, Brett Anderson, Dana Eveland and Greg Smith. Now, Anderson has struggled to stay healthy, but to net both Carter and Gonzalez... plus, for Haren was a fantastic trade. The debate will continue over whether this is the way to run a baseball team. Billy Beane, because of the fact that he holds his position, has the right to run his ball club the way he wishes. I am not here to tell him how he should do it. I admit that I was proven wrong the last time. The Athletics of 2012-2014 are a testament to what Beane, the rest of the front office and Bob Melvin have done and they deserve all the credit in the world for the success they have had. However, the 2012 Athletics in particular were as improbable a story as possible- even more than the 2002 team that the movie is based off of. To this point, I cannot knock something that has worked. The question is, will it work again in 2015? Or has Billy Beane finally bitten off more than he can chew? The name "Athletics" in baseball has been synonymous with the term "firesale", or at the very least have been making other teams better for a series of years. In fact, the Oakland version has become the forth or the forth and fifth generation of volunteering to move its talent for the sake of having another organization pay them the money they have earned. The Oakland Athletics of the 1970s won three straight World Series Championships and another AL West title before the combination of escalating players salaries and free agency led owner Charlie Finley to dismantle his team. And because of that, teams like the Yankees, Angels and even the Giants and Padres became better and more competitive because of it. All you have to do is go to the 1950s and 1960s to see how much the Kansas City Athletics acted as if they were the New York Yankees farm club. In a series of trades that really started in 1957, the Athletics would ship solid talent to the Yankees in exchange for Yankees that were on the decline and unproven minor leaguers. In some cases, if the unproven minor leaguers became solid MLB players with Kansas City, they would be traded back to the Yankees! In February of 1957, the Yankees acquired themselves Art Ditmar and Clete Boyer for a nearly washed up Billy Hunter and Irv Noren, who went from being a solid platoon player to a guy who was strictly a bench guy. Noren's production was never the same after he left the Yankees. Four months later, the Yankees were traded Ryne Duren for a fringe pitcher by the name of Ralph Terry, who went to Kansas City along with a declining Billy Martin. In May of 1959, the Yankees reacquired Terry and also added Hector Lopez in exchange for a declining Johnny Kucks and a young reserve infielder by the name of Jerry Lumpe (a guest on the Passed Ball Show, RIP). Jerry would have some success with Kansas City and made the AL All Star team with the Tigers in 1964. 6 months later, the Yankees added Roger Maris for the unproven Norm Siebern as well as has beens in Don Larsen and Hank Bauer. In May of 1960, the Yankees topped it off by adding Bob Cerv, originally a Yankee sent to Kansas City, in a deal for Andy Carey. One of the most successful early AL teams was the Philadelphia Athletics, managed by Connie Mack. They won the World Series in 1910, 1911 and 1913 and lost in 1914 in one of the bigger upsets in World Series history- to the Boston Braves. By the end of the 1915 season, Eddie Collins, Homerun Baker, Jack Barry, Eddie Plank, Chief Bender and Herb Pennock were all gone. Mack had sent them all packing to keep costs down. The Athletics would build up another series of great players in 1929 and would set off a great run that would last through 1932. Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane, Lefty Grove, George Earnshaw and Rube Wallberg. By 1935, only Foxx remained. After 1935, Foxx too was out- on his way to Boston. I laugh at the bad reputation the now Miami Marlins have in baseball today. Yes, they won a World Series in 1997, then dismantled the team within a year. They won the World Series in 2003 and by 2007 had broken up the team. A talented but underachieving team in 2012 was gutted by the beginning of the next season. What the Marlins as a franchise have done is nothing like what the Philadelphia, Kansas City and Oakland Athletics have done to their team, players and fans. Of course, its all a coincidence as Connie Mack has nothing to do with Charlie Finley and neither of them have anything to do with Billy Beane or Lew Wolf. The one thing that remains in common is the name "Athletics," which must mean in another language "give away my best players for nothing." Because they have been doing that for almost 100 years!

Going over the expansion draft of what would be the 1969 Seattle Pilots made me think about the franchise a little bit. How could a city that was given an expansion franchise lose that team after one season. The more I thought about it, the more I found some sense to the whole thing. Expansion first hit baseball in the 1961 season. The Washington Senators, an original American League franchise, decided to move to Minnesota. While this was not the first time an MLB team changed locations, it was the first of its kind. Every other time a team relocated, it was at the expense of a team that had another baseball team in the same city of district. The Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee for the 1953 season, but Boston still had the Red Sox. The St Louis Browns moved to Baltimore for the 1954 season, but St Louis still had the Cardinals. The Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City for the 1955 season, but Philadelphia still had the Phillies. As much as it was protested, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants still moved to Los Angeles and San Francisco for the 1958 season. Because of all the New York bias, many refused to cope with the fact that New York still had the Yankees. So much, that the New York Mets were added to the National League for the 1962 season. But the move of Washington was the first of its kind. The result of Washington's franchise moving to Minnesota led to baseball's first expansion. Washington, DC was left without a baseball team. That was the first time a MLB city was left without a team. MLB decided that Washington should have a team, which led to the re-addition of the Washington Senators to the AL for the 1961 season. Because scheduling conflicts would exist because one team is added, the AL added another team, the Los Angeles Angels. The decision of owner Charlie Finley to move the Kansas City Athletics to Oakland for the 1968 season bothered a lot of people, and left for Oakland for the 1968 season. The NL reacted to the unhappiness by granting the city of Kansas City an expansion franchise for the 1969 season. So, if you have read to this point, you are probably saying, "I know about all that! What does all that have to do with Seattle losing its team after the 1969 season?" After a brief stay in Milwaukee, the Braves moved to Atlanta for the 1966 season. A similar outcry resulted in Milwaukee, but one that was for naught. Not only was Kansas City given a team for 1969, but cities that had never had an MLB team such as Seattle, San Diego and Montreal were given expansion teams. Why was Milwaukee not given an expansion team? Based on the history of the Senators and Athletics/ Royals, it was a fair question to be asked. With new teams in San Diego and Montreal having long histories in the minor leagues, Seattle became vulnerable and a target of the baseball trust in the city of Milwaukee. Geographically, San Diego was a solid addition to baseball of the West Coast, joining LA and San Fran. There would have been some greater implications of trying to take the Expos out of Montreal. In the end, Milwaukee got a baseball team back, the Brewers from 1970 on. MLB did keep up with rewarding cities that lost teams by granting Seattle a franchise for the 1977 season. But, Washington did not have to wait at all to get a new team. Kansas City had to wait one full season. Milwaukee just four. Seattle had to wait a record seven seasons before they had a new team there. Of course, Washington now owns the record with a 33 year gap without having a baseball team. Montreal is entering its 10th season without a team in 2014. And from what has been heard, it seems unlikely there will ever be a professional baseball team in Montreal again. And that is sad.

Today is the 65th anniversary of announcement of the signing of RHP Satchel Paige by the Cleveland Indians. According to records, Paige was reportedly 42 years old. Baseballreference.com has Paige's birth date listed as July 7, 1906. Though it has been disputed, if Paige was in fact born on that date, this would also be his 107th birthday if he were still alive. He, of course, passed away at age 77 in 1982. The signing happened in 1948, a little year and three months after Jackie Robinson made his MLB debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the color barrier. Paige's signing did come under a little bit of scrutiny, however. Indians owner Bill Veeck was known for several publicity stunts, which would later include batting a midget, having players wear shorts as part of their uniforms and disco demolition night. The initial thought was Paige was being exploited a little bit, as fans would certainly go to the stadium to see the legendary Satchel Paige pitch. After Robinson made his debut, there was a lot of talk about Paige being this dominant Negro Leagues pitcher who was as good as any pitcher who ever pitched. A crowd would have followed Paige, even if he had nothing left. The unfortunate thing was the timing of when Paige pitched. Though he will always be regarded as the greatest pitcher in Negro Leagues history, the major leagues did not get to see him in his prime. But Veeck would wind up looking good as Paige had more left in the tank than anybody could have imagined. He would go 6-1, 2.48 in 1948 in 21 games, 7 starts. While he was not the dominant strikeout pitcher he was a couple years earlier, he was mature enough to know how to get hitters out. He pitched in game 5 of the 1948 World Series, and was the first reliever used by the Tribe that series. The first four games, the Indians starters pitched a complete game each game. Paige relieved Bob Feller and got the last two outs of an inning without giving up a run. Of course, Paige was teammates with Larry Doby, the first African American player to play in the American League and the second to manage a MLB ball club (in 1978). Paige was released after the 1949 season, after going 4-7, 3.04 in 31 games, 5 as a starter. This was around the same time Veeck was in the process of selling the Indians to fund his divorce settlement. Paige would re-unite with Veeck, as he was signed in the middle of the 1951 season as Veeck was then the owner of the St Louis Browns. In 1951, he went 3-4, 4.79 in 23 games at age 44. Paige would have his best MLB season in 1952, going 12-10, 3.07 in 46 games, 6 starts and led the American League in games finished with 46. He had 91 strikeouts in 138 innings, making his first All Star appearance. He returned to the All Star game in 1953, though he was not as dominant. Paige went 3-9, 3.53 in a career high 57 games, but his strikeout rate dropped considerably; noteworthy because he had already seen this drop from when he pitched in the Negro Leagues. Though he never stopped pitching, 1953 was thought of to be the last Paige would pitch in the major leagues. Paige made a miraculous return to the majors, being signed by another interesting owner, Charlie Finley with the Kansas City Athletics, This was in 1965. When Paige made a start on September 25 against the Red Sox, he was 58 years old! He would throw three scoreless innings, facing 10 batters and retiring 9 of them and gave up 1 hit and struck out 1 (Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette). He would finish his career with a 28-31 record, 3.29 ERA in 179 games, 26 starts and a WHIP of 1.33. In his Negro League career, (based on statistics recorded as some may have not been found) he was 100-50, 3.22 in 176 games, 89 starts from 1927 -1947. He had a WHIP of 0.95 and struck out 1170 batters in 1298 2/3 IP. He was inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1971 by the special committee for the Negro Leagues. However, he could be considered a first ballot Hall of Famer since he stopped pitching in the majors in 1965. The 1971 election was exactly five years after he finished pitching.

Among the silly things Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley tried to do was change the name of the ball club to the "A's" thinking it was more modern and catchy. While there are many things to choose from, from the ball delivering rabbit or colored baseballs used while he owned the Athletics in Kansas City, I chose something that could be considered a good baseball move by some. Finley believed in having speed on the base paths, and throughout the better part of the 1970s, he employed a full time pinch runner. I do not want to confuse that with an extra infielder or outfielder that happened to run fast. The job of the full time pinch runner was just that, to come in late in a game to run for a base runner, and be replaced by another player upon exit from the field. Allan Lewis got it started, as Finley had the idea while the organization was still in Kansas City. Lewis got just 7 ABs in 1967, but played in 34 games, scoring 7 runs and stealing 14 bases. Lewis only pinch hit and pinch ran; did not play an inning in the field. He would precede to play in 26 games, 4 ABs, scoring 9 runs and stealing 8 bases for the Oakland team in 1968. After an injury held him to 12, 1, 2, 0 (games, ABs, runs, SB) in 1969, he was used a little bit more in 1970, finishing with 25, 8, 8, 7. Lewis's best success came in the years of 1972 and 1973, as he played in both World Series for the A's. 1972 saw him gain a career high in ABs with 10, in 25 games scoring 5 runs and stealing 8 bases. He played in 6 games in the 1972 World Series, scoring 2 runs but getting caught stealing 2 times. 1973 was different, and revolutionary. Lewis would have a career high with 35 games played and 16 runs scored. However, he did not record a single plate appearance, finishing with 7 steals. He would appear in a total of 5 games in the ALCS and World Series that season, scoring two runs while not attempting a stolen base. (No postseason plate appearances either). The most interesting choice for a pinch runner came before the 1974 season. Lewis was let go and replaced by world class sprinter Herb Washington. The only problem was that Washington never played baseball before, even at an intermediate level. Using Lewis only as a runner the year before allowed the team to make this transition to keep a runner on the team who was not a baseball player. He appeared in 92 games in 1974, recording 0 plate appearances, but scoring 29 runs and stealing 29 bases in 45 attempts. His lack of baseball instincts led him to be picked off and thrown out stealing more than the Athletics wanted him to. He was used in 2 games in the ALCS against Baltimore, getting caught stealing both times. He PRed in 3 games of the 1974 World Series, not attempting a SB. However, he was picked off in the 9th inning of game two of the series, by Mike Marshall. He appeared in 13 games, 0 ABs, scoring 4 runs and stole 2 bases in 1975 before getting his release. Washington remains the only non pitcher to appear in more than 100 games without getting a single plate appearance. The decision to replace Washington with Don Hopkins seemed very logical. It was only logical because Hopkins was a baseball player. Hopkins did not have the talent to make the major leagues, but was fast enough to serve this role. He appeared in 82 games in 1975, getting 8 plate appearances (6 ABs, 2 BBs). He scored 25 runs and stole 21 bases. However, he was caught 9 times. In the game 1 of the 1975 ALCS, he got a mysterious chance to pinch hit for Billy Williams, with the A's being down considerably in the game. Hopkins would appear in 3 games in 1976, getting 0 ABs, 0 RS, 0 SB and 1 CS. Matt Alexander also made the team in 1975, at first being Washington's replacement. The team still chose to go with Hopkins, with Alexander having more value with his ability to play multiple positions. Before coming to Oakland, he played with the Chicago Cubs, hitting .203 in 57 games (80 plate appearances, 59 ABs, 13 BBs, 7 SAC, 1 HBP) in the 1973 and 1974 seasons. Whie Alexander had more baseball talent than Washington and Hopkins, he never showed he was a good hitter in his brief opportunities to bat over his first two seasons in Oakland. In 1975, he played in 63 games, batting 10 times, scoring 16 runs and stealing 17 bases. He was caught 10 times as well. In 1976, he was 1-30 in 61 games. He scored 16 runs and stole 20 bases that season, only getting caught 7 times. 1977 saw him get some more playing time, particularly in center field. He played 90 games, getting 42 ABs, with 24 RS, 10 hits and 26 SBs. He was caught, however, 14 times that season, which was his last in Oakland. He ironic thing about Alexander was that he played for the Pirates from 1978-1980, and hit .444 (12-27) in 103 games and stole 30-37 bases for Pittsburgh. 1976 A's manager Chuck Tanner took over in Pirates, taking Alexander along with him in 1978. He was also part of the 1979 World Series Championship team, joining Lewis and Washington as A's PRs with World Series rings. Alexander holds the MLB record for most appearances as a pinch runner with 271, as well as PR stolen bases (91) and PR runs scored (89). In 1976, the A's brought over Larry Lintz, an infielder who had previously played for Montreal (1973-1975) and St Louis (1975). He stole 50-57 bases for the Expos in 1974, drawing the attention of A's owner Finley. Prior to joining the A's, Lintz played in 238 games, batting 585 times. In 1976, he played 68 games, getting 1 official AB, while scoring 21 runs and stealing 31-42 bases. His role changed a little bit in 1977, as he demanded more of a chance to play the field and bat. He was 4-30 in 41 games, scoring 11 runs and stealing 13-18 bases. Ironically, when he sold the A's, Finley was replaced as General Manager by Billy Martin. Martin, of course, was known to be a big proponent of the stolen base and speed in general. However, Martin did not want to clog a roster spot for a player who was so one dimensional. Neither did prior managers Bobby Winkles and Jack McKeon. McKeon used the idea to a point with Alexander and Lintz in 1977. The A's designated PRs lasted from 1972-1977 with five players designated in that role.

I am sure I can put together a series of the best teams to never make the postseason. It would start back before divisional play in 1969 and would include countless teams. The 1993 San Francisco Giants won 103 games and missed the playoffs, losing the NL West Division title by a game to the Atlanta Braves. The 1979 Montreal Expos had a solid core, proven veterans coming off the bench, two very good starting pitchers and one of the more underrated managers to ever sit behind the bench, Dick WIlliams. The Expos, of course, would miss out on the postseason as they finished in 2nd place, two games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates, who would win the World Series that season. They were 95-65, only playing 160 games while everybody else in the NL East played 162. (They did not play final games against Cincinnati and San Diego.) The core of the team was set up by future Hall of Famers, CF Andre Dawson and C Gary Carter. Dawson hit .275, 25, 92 with 35 steals and a team leading 90 runs scored. Carter hit .282, 22, 75. The rest of the lineup consisted of RF Ellis Valentine (.276, 21, 82), future HOF 1B Tony Perez (.270, 13, 73) and home run hitting 3B Larry Parrish (.307, 30, 82). Parrish led the team in batting average, home runs, on base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS and total bases in 1979. They also had Warren Cromartie in LF, who would lead the team in hits (181) and 2Bs (46). Veterans Rusty Staub and Duffy Dyer came off the bench, as well as future MLB executive Tony Bernazard and MLB manager Ken Macha. Future franchise star Tim Raines would appear in 6 games for the team in September. The pitching staff was led by veterans Steve Rogers (13-12, 3.00, 13 CG) and Bill Lee (16-10. 3.04), fresh off his 10 years in Boston. Williams did some of his best work with the rest of that rotation, getting 10 wins out of Ross Grimsley, David Palmer, Rudy May and Dan Schatzeder, getting 27, 11, 7 and 21 starts out of the respective pitchers. 22 year old Scott Sanderson made 24 starts, going 9-8 as the forth starter, with his 138 strikeouts second only to Rogers' 143. Bill Gullickson, at age 20 made his debut towards the end of the season, to go along with fellow youngsters Palmer (21) and Sanderson. Williams, in my opinion, is one of the best MLB managers few talk about. Many forget he led the 1967 Red Sox to the World Series in his first season there and won three straight AL West titles in Oakland, the last two being World Series Championships, before choosing to no longer work for owner Charlie Finley. He improved a bad Montreal team and got them to back to back second place finishes, before they finally made the postseason in the strike interrupted 1981 season. However, Williams was not there to take his team to the postseason as he was fired with 27 games to go in the regular season. His decision to use Rogers, his best pitcher, as a pinch runner in the middle of the pennant race in 1981 led to the firing. Williams, of course, was behind the bench for the 1984 Padres team that won the NL Pennant.

The Toronto Blue Jays surprisingly announced the return of former manager John Gibbons (2004-2008) after talk had former MLB managers Manny Acta and Mike Hargrove as favorites. I threw my two cents in yesterday when I suggested Jim Riggleman, who apparently never got a call.

Since 1961, 30 managers have managed the same team on more than one occasion. Among the ten who won World Series managing that team, only Pittsburgh's Danny Murtaugh (1960, 1971) won World Series titles in two or both of his stints. In fact, only Atlanta's Bobby Cox (1995) and Oakland's Alvin Dark (1974) won World Series during their second tenure. In fact, it makes sense that the remaining seven teams brought back their skipper because of the fact they won them a World Series. Cito Gaston won two WS in Toronto in 1992-1993, left after the 1997 season and returned from 2008-2010. Earl Weaver had a great run with Baltimore from 1968-1982, winning the World Series in 1970 and winning AL Pennants in 1971 and 1979. However, after leaving the Orioles after the 1982 season, they won the World Series under Joe Altobelli in 1983. He returned for the 1985 and 1986 seasons. Ralph Houk won World Series in his first two seasons at the Yankees helm in 1961 and 1962. He was fired after the 1963 season, which saw him lead the Yankees to the AL Pennant before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He returned to manage the team from 1966-1973, one of the worst stretches in the history of the team. Red Schoendienst managed the Cardinals from 1965-1976, winning the World Series in 1967. He returned for brief cameos in 1980 and 1990. Billy Martin managed the Yankees from 1975-1978, winning the World Series in 1977. He returned for separate stints in 1979, 1983, 1985 and 1988. In fact, before passing away on 12/25/1989, reports are he was planning to manage the Yankees once again in 1990. Of course, Yankees manager comings and goings were something very common in the George Steinbrenner era. Dick Howser took over for Martin in 1978 and returned to the team in 1980. Bob Lemon replaced Howser in the same season, leading the Yankees to the World Series that season, only to be replaced by Martin during the 1979 season. Lemon would once again manage the team from 1981-1982. Yogi Berra led the Yankees to the AL Pennant in his only season in 1964, and returned to the team from 1984-1985. Gene Michael managed the team in 1981. After getting fired, he was named manager in the 1982 season. Jack McKeon took over the Florida Marlins during the 2003 seasons, leading them to an unexpected World Series win. He stuck around through the 2005 season before returning in 2011. He also had two stints with the Oakland Athletics in 1977 and again in 1978. Dark's first tenure started with the Kansas City Athletics in 1966 and lasted through 1967 before having issues with owner Charley Finley. He returned after the A's won consecutive WS in 1972 and 1973 after Dick Williams had similar issues with Finley. After winning the 1974 Series, he managed the team for the 1975 season before leaving for good. Hank Bauer also managed in Kansas City/ Oakland from 1961-1962 and returned for the 1969 season in Oakland. Others won pennants for their respective teams. Paul Owens managed the Phillies in 1972, but returned to lead them to a NL Pennant in 1983 and left after the 1984 season. Harvey Kuenn managed the Milwaukee Brewers in 1975, but returned for the 1982-1983 seasons, winning the AL Pennant in 1982. Al Lopez, who had won a Pennant with the Cleveland Indians in 1954, managed the Chicago White Sox from 1957-1965, winning the AL Pennant in 1959. He returned to Chicago for the 1968-1969 seasons. Others who had two stints with the same team include Gene Mauch (1981-1982, 1985-1988) and John Mc Namara (1983-1984, 1996), both with the California Angels. Joey Amalfitano (1979, 1980-1981) and Lou Klein (1961-1962, 1965) both managed to have two stints with the Chicago Cubs. John Boles (1996, 1999-2001) did so for Florida and Jim Fanning (1981-1982, 1984) for Montreal. George Bamberger managed the Brewers from 1978-1979 and again in 1985-1986. Ray Knight had two runs in Cincinnati (1996-1997, 2003) while Birdie Tebbetts did the same for Cleveland in 1963 and 1966-1967. Simliar to Schoendienst returning briefly in 1980 and 1990 with St Louis, Johnny Pesky did the same with the Boston Red Sox in 1980, after managing the team from 1963-1964. Cal Ripken, Sr got the job from 1987 to beginning of the 1988 season after serving a brief stint in 1985.

There are many MLB managers who are given jobs based on their reputation. Some have a reputation of winning games and others get jobs because they have experience. Really outside of Buck Showalter, few managers now a days have gotten jobs because of their history of changing the fates of franchises. One of the best at that was Billy Martin. Another was Dick Williams, who passed away on this date in 2011. After an MLB career that went from 1951 to 1964, he became a manager in the Boston Red Sox minor league system. He took over the big club in 1967, taking a 9th place team in 1966 to the World Series in 1967. Since the Red Sox did not maintain their success, he was let go in 1969. He coached under Gene Mauch after that before landing the Oakland Athletics job in 1971. Though he had some talent such as Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson, he led the team to an AL West title in 1971 and to back to back World Series wins in 1972 and 1973. He quit after the 1973 season after his problems with owner Charlie Finley. He was back in the saddle by the end of the 1974 season, struggling with the California Angels for a couple of seasons before landing the Montreal Expos job before the 1977 season. After a couple losing seasons, he led the Expos to three winning seasons before losing his job in the strike-shortened 1981 season. It turned out to be the Expos first playoff appearance that year. He next moved on to the San Diego Padres where he finished with a .500 record in his first two years in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, he led the Padres to the World Series for the first time ever and along with Sparky Anderson, became the first manager to make it to the World Series in both the American and National Leagues. He struck around one more season in 1985, before taking a chance with the Seattle Mariners before being finished managing in 1988. One thing about Williams was he did not stay very long whereever he was at. Part of it was his combative nature, which wore out his welcome in a couple locations. His controversal move to use star pitcher Steve Rogers as a pinch runner in 1981, which led to an injury, cost him his job with the Expos. He made it to the Hall of Fame in 2008, which was very much deserved.